Flight of the Gravedigger: The fictional history about the AB-36J
by Zoids Fanatic
Summary: The AB-36J gunship, a flying wonder. You've seen it in action, now see its past. Marvel as it competes against other gunships to win the hearts of the military and stand at awe at its awesome firepower. Please note this is a fictional history about a fictional aircraft in a fictional universe, and is not attended to represent anything that is real. Enjoy.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Strike Witches or the Convair B-36, Lockheed C-130 and AC-130, or any other aircraft appearing in this story. However, I own the AB-36, including all its varieties.**

**Note: This is a work of fiction. As such, some facts will be false on purpose and some events will have never occurred. And yes, this does count as fan fiction as it takes place directly in the world of Strike Witches. Now, please enjoy this fictional history about a fictional aircraft in a fictional universe.**

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Part 1. Meet the Gravedigger

Weighing in at 83 tons unloaded and with a wingspan of 230 feet, the Lockheed/Boeing, though originally created by Convair, AB-36 "Gravedigger" is a flying marvel. Larger than the B-52 and carrying more armaments then the AC-130, the H.U.F.F., a nickname borrowed from the B-52s and standing for Huge Ugly Flying *ahem* "Fellow", is one of today's most outstanding gunships. With its ten engines, six piston and four jet, this massive straight-winged beauty has captured the hearts of the Liberion men on the ground and gorged a fearsome reputation as well. But while we all know about this giant, many do not know the history behind it. Why did someone strap guns to the side of this aircraft? Why did the plane almost never exist? And how exactly did it get the name "Gravedigger"?

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Part 2. Humble beginnings

Our story begins back in 1941, two years after the Second Neuroi invasion. As Europe burned under the might of the Neuroi, and Liberion was prepping for the likely hood of invasion, the United States Army Air Corps posted a strange request. Rather than wanting more witches or a new Striker Units, the USAAC issued a request for a new bomber of all things. Something that could fly to Europe and then back to Liberion, a 5,700 mile trip at some points. The idea was simple enough. The bomber was to be intercontinental and have the ability to drop bombs and house witches and Strikers, thereby eliminating the need for a fighter escort. It should be noted that during this time there were real fears that Britannia would fall, leaving the United States without a base of operations in Europe. The requirements, posted on the 11th of April, 1941, met this task by asking for a bomber that had the top speed of 450 mph, 275 mph cruising speed, a service ceiling of 45,000 feet, a maximum range of 12,000 miles at 25,000 feet, and the ability to house 20,000 pound bomb load as well as hold up to eight witches with Strikers Units included.

It was a rather daunting task, to say the least. Technology hadn't quite caught up to the requirements. Therefore, on August 19th of that year, the requirements were altered. The bomber was to now have a maximum range 10,000 miles, an effective combat radius of 4,000 miles with a now reduced payload of 10,000 pounds of bombs, a cruising speed between 240 mph and 300 mph, and a service celling of 40,000 feet. Work did not begin right away, as most companies were too busy making Strikers and weapons. And besides, what good could a bomber do in the days of witches? For example, the 501st JFW, a multi-national Witch task force, was able to take down two Neuroi hives between the periods of 1944-1945. Bombers, as some experts at the time figured, were finished. Still, one company decided they were up to the task. This company was Consolidated, known now as Convair.

Starting in 1943, as they took on the task in 1941, Convair began to work on designs for this new bomber, now designated the XB-36 with the final model to be known as the B-36. Most of the designs called for massive bombers with some prototypes having up to ten engines, with one design even appearing to resemble what looked like a B-2. While some of the designs were successful in wind-tests, the United States government refused to help fund the massive behemoth due to funds and material going to much more conventional arms and armament. Finally, after careful consideration, the 23rd of July of that same year called for an order of 100 B-36s and two testing prototypes. The construction started, and the first prototype, nicknamed "Ladybird", was delivered two years later in August of 1945. It was unveiled to the public on the 20th and flew for the first time on August 6th, 1946. The original prototype was lacking many features of the modern version, such as the jets engines and was powered by only six 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-4360 'Wasp Major' radial engines, all pointing backwards rather than forwards (an iconic symbol of the B-36).

With the foundation of the United States Air Force in 1947, as well as uses of nuclear bombs by multiple countries, the B-36 was decided on to be the new war-horse of the United States bomber fleet. It is during this time that the B-36 got its name of "Peacemaker". Though the title of the war-horse of the bomber-fleet was soon to be short live, as the Air Force had its eyes on the new B-47 Stratojet and newer and more "advanced", for its day, B-52 Stratofortress. Convair, refusing to let their bomber die a silent death, started attaching the new General Electric J47-GE-19 engines to their bombers, four to each bomber in a desperate attempt to save the aircraft from a fate of becoming obsolesce. While this added more speed, range, and ceiling, it also added extra weight to the aircraft. Due to the weight, the United States started up something called the "Featherweight program". Under this program, the six movable gun turrets and other defensive hardware were removed. The rear compartment crew comfort features and all hardware accommodating the witches and their Striker Units were also removed. The crew was also reduced. Though making the bomber lightweight, it was believed to not be sufficient enough to survive the upcoming B-52. What's worse, the B-36 was full of faults. Its six propeller engines were prone to erupting into flames, while its entire body was prone to metal fatigue. The insides couldn't have been worse, as early models had faulty wiring to the point that firing the turrets of the B-36 usually joggled the wires due to vibrations of the guns. Not only that, but flying the B-36 was quite the hassle. To say the least, things were not looking good for the B-36. Also, seeing as how carriers and carrier-based aircraft and witches were becoming more and more popular and common place and the fact the Neuroi were being beaten back, the need for three different bombers was seen as unneeded. It was clear that the B-52, which was getting raved reviews from those in the Air force and Department of Defense, was going to succeeded both the B-36 and B-47.

So, while at a meeting on deciding if creating the new variety B-36, the B-36J, would be worthwhile or not an employee whose name was forever lost to history uttered the one sentence that would change the B-36 forever,

'Why don't we make this model a gunship?"

The production board was stunned. This aircraft was a bomber made to be a bomber, not a gunship. Yet, the higher-ups at Convair liked this idea. The B-17 and B-24 had a gunship model, so why not the B-36? It was then decided, the B-36J would be gunship. It should be noted that the term "gunship" did not mean the same as it does today. The "gunships", prototypes of sorts, were bombers with a lot of machine-guns/turrets built in. And given the size of the B-36, many weapons could be crammed into the aircraft. So, blueprints of the new gunship began and after many prototypes, a final armament total came into count. The new B-36J gunships were to carry sixteen M24A1 autocannons housed in eight turrets on the aircraft, two cannons per turret. To supplement this, an additional assortment of twenty-four M2 Browning machine guns was to cover the aircraft. The grand total was forty guns. In order to compensate for the guns, the bomber was given an overhaul. With the addition of a completely new and strengthen body, the bomb bays were removed as well as the older computers and machinery used to make the bomber a bomber, replaced with new components. So no more was the B-36 a bomber, but now a full-fledged gunship. Still the designation of "B" was kept, as the Air force still had concerns about the aircraft.

While Convair was pleased with its new gunship, the Air force was skeptical that it could even take off. The first flight, in December of 1956, proved them wrong. Not only was this gunship able to take off and fly, but it was able to fight. The first combat action seen by the B-36, as previous models were withheld in the States for "defense", was February of 1957 when the first B-36J was faced with an opposition of a small fleet of Neuroi, numbering thirty-five small-class Neuroi and five large-class Neuroi. While hesitant, the crew decided to attack the Neuroi in what was a suicidal attack. The battle lasted fifteen minutes; the Neuroi were all but exterminated from the sky while the B-36J flew home without a scratch. As said by the crew, the Neuroi apparently did not get a chance to attack due to the mass volume of fire-power the gunship produced, catching the Neuroi off-guard and leaving them barely any room to return fire before they were cut to shreds. As the ground-crews cheered, so did those in the Air force. This peacemaker was now a gravemaker.

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Part 3. The creation of the "A"

With a final push in the early months of 1963, the last of the Neuroi were wiped from the face of the Earth. Humanity had won the war, but at the cost of two hundred million lives. By this point in time, thirty B-36Js were built, while the remaining fleet of thirty B-36D and other varieties were upgraded to the B-36J standards. Only five B-36Js were lost in the remaining years of the war, only one to an enemy attack. The other four suffered engine malfunctions. Peace was believed to be at hand, but this hope was soon lost. The newly founded country of Israel was wiped out by its neighbors, while Karlsland split. To the north and east, Orrussia, now called the Soviet Union began to devour country after country. The newly formed United Asia Kingdom, consisting of a bulk of Eastern Asia, did the same. It would not be long before war would begin between humans. In 1966, just three years after the end of the Neuroi war began, Liberion declared war on the U.A.K. over its invasion of Singapore.

By now, the B-36J was once again facing the threat of going obsolete. With modern jet fighters and jet-equipped witches, the guns of the B-36J could not keep up. What's more, jets could simply fire a missile at the B-36J, without having to worry about getting near the gunship or its guns. And the casualties were mounting, with five gunships downed by the end of 1966. But once again fate had a different plan for this aircraft.

The definition of gunship for aircraft had changed once again. Unlike the B-36J, these new gunships were created for ground-support role and were proving quite successful. The first of these new gunships was the Douglas AC-47 "Spooky", introduced in 1965. Based off of the C-47 Skytrain, which itself was based upon the famous DC-3. The AC-47 was equipped with three M134 miniguns or ten M2s as well as 48 Mk 24 flares, allowing it to illuminate the battlefield below. Convair, seeing the success of the AC-47, decided to copy the idea in their own gunship. However, due to finical issues the company faced in the period of 1967-68 as well as the on-going issues with the age of the engines of the "peacemaker" saw two other gunships, the Fairchild AC-119 "Shadow" and Lockheed AC-130 "Spectre", came into service before the newly proposed gunship. These two, like the "Spooky", were much smaller than the B-36, meaning they would likely be cheaper to maintain and fly. However, Convair was persistent and gave the Air force plans for the "AB-36 Gravedigger" at the end of 1969. Due to financial issues the Liberion government was facing at this time the plans could be looked at, the early months of 1970, Congress voted on the Air Force only having one type of gunship. A furious battle started between Lockheed, Fairchild, and Convair over whose aircraft would be the standard gunship in Liberion force, the program of which was called the "Standard Gunship Program". Lockheed presented it's widely acclaimed, and combat-tested, AC-130A "Spectre" while Fairchild introduced its upgraded model of their gunship, the AC-119K "Stinger". As for Convair, before it could post a competitive model, it had to do a refitting of the B-36J.

The B-36's Pratt & Whitney R-4360 'Wasp Major' radial engines and General Electric J47-GE-19 were too old to be effective anymore. So, a plan was drawn up to replace the old 'Wasp Major' engines with the newer Pratt & Whitney R-830 'Hornet Commander' radial engines while the jet engines were to be replaced with the General Electric J80-ET-10 engines. Not only were these new engines more efficient, but also less prone to engine fires. However, the speed remained the same, as it was decided that increasing the speed would ruin the chance to compete with the AC-130 and AC-119. As well as the engine upgrade, the tailfin was lowered by five feet and the outer hull was once again reinforced in order for it to handle the recoil of the proposed weapons.

By the time the B-36 was refitted, Fairchild had backed out of the competition to finish up work with its new ground-attack aircraft, what we know today as the A-10 Thunderbolt II, leaving Convair and Lockheed the two remaining contenders. This proved a problem for Convair, as the AC-130 was smaller, cheaper, and easier to maintain compared to the B-36. Regardless, Convair carried on with the upgrades to its fleet of forty-five gunships and the first AB-36A "Gravedigger" rolled down the runway in May of 1971. As was custom with the B-36, bigger was better. Both the AC-130 and AB-36 had three different weapons systems, while the AB-36 had five weapons onboard compared to three.

The weapons onboard were two Bofors 40 mm autocannons, two GAU-12 Equalizer 25 mm rotary cannons, and its main armament, a 240 mm howitzer M1. Commonly referred to as the "black dragon", the M1 was one of the largest artillery pieces ever fielded by Liberion. Many did not believe it could even fit in the confines of the B-36. But after some refurbishing of the M1, the mechanics at Convair were able to fit the howitzer into the hull of the aircraft by pushing the barrel back further and adding an experimental side-feeding mechanism. The howitzer was placed in the center-area of the plane; far enough to not harm the engines or wings, while a pair of Bofors and Equalizer were placed in the front and rear of the aircraft. As well as a weapons upgrade, the AB-36 was given an electronic overhaul which saw a new computing system, better radar, night and thermal vision, and the removal of the tail gun.

As with the B-36J, and the entire B-36 series for that matter, there was skepticism about the AB-36's abilities. And as before, not only was the AB-36 able to fly, it could also fulfill its role. Gun crews raved about the movability inside the aircraft and the plentiful ammo storage, while complaints arose about the tight fit of the M1 and the worry that the aircraft may be side-heavy and the chance a stray round could destroy the gunship by mistake. Yet, Convair still had its hope that the AB-36 could easily beat the AC-130. Yet, once again, fate had something else in mind, but this time for both aircraft.

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Part 4. Gunship action

Starting in 1971, a chain of terroristic nuclear attacks against the Soviet Union as well as terrorism in general had the entire world on edge. In 1974, the Soviets attacked oil-producing countries in the Middle East and Africa, which in-turn provoked multiple countries, Liberion included, to declare war against the Soviet Union. The U.A.K., an ally to the Soviet Union then declared war, which prompted Fuso and Australis to join the fighting. The end result was the First World War, which lasted from 1975 to 1984. While the war was devastating, leaving much ruin and chaos in its track, it was the perfect opportunity for the AC-130 and AB-36 to face off against each other.

At the start of the war, both gunships did well. Troops on the ground were glad to see the gunships regardless of which one it was, and the two aircraft were usually stationed together. So, nothing seemed to be different about the two aircraft. This all changed one day in 1976 when a small Liberion convey radioed in that they were surrounded by an aggressive Orrussian Armed Division. The only support around were a AB-36 and a AC-130 stationed in Israel. The problem was the call came out from southern Romanga, which was over 1,400 miles away. While both aircraft could easily cover this distance, the AB-36 having a range of over 10,000 miles while the AC-130 had a range of over 2300 miles, only the AB-36 could get there and have enough fuel to protect the convoy and return to base. Also, despite the size, the AB-36 was faster. So without a moment to lose, the AB-36 was sent up and a little over three hours later it was circling the convoy, firing everything in its arsenal upon the confused Orrussians, who were quick to break formation in order to escape the gunship. The barrage finally let up an hour later. 90% of the Orrussian's were either killed or wounded, and all vehicles were destroyed. Without any threats, the AB-36 proceeded to follow the convoy back to base, and then head home itself. The entire trip was over 2500 miles, and the AB-36 was able to make it without having to refuel. An extraordinary trip made easy by a former strategic bomber turned gunship. Though it was believed the incident would go unnoticed, as war was war, the media soon caught wind of the story, and the B-36 was hailed as a "savior machine". And with this, the public eye finally caught onto the B-36.

As the war dragged on, four more varieties of the AB-36 appeared. The AB-36B, first flown in 1978, was equipped with the more powerful Rangefinder 860 radar system and a new processing computer, more powerful than the older computing system. The AB-36C, flown in 1979, had a wingspan of 200 feet, though this variety only saw three Cs, as the reduced wingspan affected the gunship. The AB-36D, also flown in 1979, saw the removal of the two Bofors cannons, replacing them with another pair of GAU-12 Equalizers. Like the AB-36C, only three versions appeared as crews complained about the loss of the Bofors cannons, claiming that while the Equalizers cut down on weight it also cut down on the scare factor of the gunship, as well as the usefulness of the gunship. The last version of the gunship, the AB-36J which was flown in 1981, was basically the AB-36B with the addition of the Rangefinder 2000 radar system, the Gaia 6 threat-detection system, and four round turrets.

These turrets, with one located on the belly of the gunship, two on the top near the wings, and one found in the tail were part of the AB-36J's Close-in weapon system, known as the CIWS. The turrets, known as "Sphinx CIWS" were based upon the idea of the Phalanx CIWS which appeared on Navy ships in 1980. The Sphinxs were armed with one M61 Vulcan and one M2, were used to take out close-range missiles fired at the gunship, mainly SAMs. The entire system was run by the Gaia 6, which was the major reason why the threat-detection system was installed.

After the World War ended in 1984, the service of the AB-36J began to slow. While it was an effective war machine, it was still expensive to maintain and operate the fleet of thirty craft. Regardless, the AB-36J and the AC-130 both saw combat in the Middle East and Eastern Europe during the 1990s and 2000s. While the AC-130 was called into action more often than the AB-36J, as it was more cost-efficient for taking out minor forces, the AB-36J still received its fair share of missions with taking out larger enemy forces, or hard-lined enemy fortifications. Still, the future for the AB-36 is bright. It is to remain in the inventory of the Air force until 2030, a good lifespan for an aircraft created in the 1940s. It also clocked in over ten million flight hours, the fleet in whole, while maintaining a success rate of 86%. Flight crews still love the aircraft, with many crews having grown fond of their behemoth. And given it's age, it is said that some crew members are doing the same job their fathers did when they flew in the "Gravediggers". The aircraft was also quite influential, as new gunship models are either basing themselves upon the AB-36, or working on improving the already tested aircraft.

Even though their time is growing near, the AB-36 will continue to fly with dignity and honor for its country. And on this note, our story about this magnificent aircraft ends.

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**(A/N: Here you have it, the fictional history of a fictional aircraft. Now, could the B-36 make a good ground-attack aircraft? In theory, yes. Look at the AC-130, it originally was a cargo plane. Not only that, but a B-36 could carry the weight of said equipment, including fuel and ammo, with about 40,000-50,000 extra pounds to spare. But, seeing as the B-36 was retired in 1959, we'll never know. But it's fun to dream, right? Anyhow, I would like to ask not to take any of the ideas without permission. If you'd like to borrow the idea, then please message me. I should also note, once again, this is fictional. And finally, for those of you who only know the history of combat from Call of Duty and Strike Witches, no the AC-130 is not the only gunship ever made. The AC-47 came first. And no, I have no issues with the AC-130. It's just that any gunship made in the 60s/70s would have to compete with the AC-130. Well, enjoy.)  
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